


The Destruction of Sennachirib

by jenna_thorn



Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-01
Updated: 2005-08-01
Packaged: 2018-07-28 18:03:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7651042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jenna_thorn/pseuds/jenna_thorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a ghost story for a scifi show</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Destruction of Sennachirib

**Author's Note:**

> Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,  
> That host with their banners at sunset were seen;  
> Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,  
> That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
> 
> For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,  
> And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;  
> And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,  
> And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!
> 
> \-- from The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon, Lord Byron.

Kaylee watched the flickering light of the climate control alarm with a sense of resignation. She pressed her forehead against the upper console trying not to cry when Mal's voice cracked from the comm.

"Kaylee, what the hell?"

"I fixed it."

"I'm standin' here shiverin' and thinking you didn't."

"I'll be right down," she sighed and turned to put both hands against the console, leaning on it more for emotional support than physical. "I did fix it. It just won't stay fixed." 

She detoured by the mess to fortify herself. Captain or no, Mal was wrong. It wasn't a vacuum leak, or the pressure would be off. Cargo 2 was cold. That was it. And damned if she could figure out why.

She grabbed a pressed fruit, apple-pear this time, as like to either as nothing, and tore off a corner, pretending to listen to Jayne and Book bicker rather than admit she was dawdling on her way to the cargo area.

"Cortex does the trick. Why take up space with paper that just gonna shake itself to dust anyway?"

"There is comfort in tangible things. The weight of a favorite coat. You can't tell me that you know of nothing that is beautiful because of its use."

"Well, yeah, but a book's not useful!" At Book's glare, he shrugged and continued. "Okay, I've seen Inara do that fancy writing, and that's pretty, but it's not good for anythin'. Poetry is poetry but that's entertainment, all that walkin' in silk stuff…"

"She walks in beauty/Like the night…" Book offered.

"Huh?"

"The poem you were referring to."

"What poem? I was talking about Inara."

Book blinked twice and let it drop, "So nothing useful can bring comfort or joy? That was, I believe, your point."

"Right, data is data. Don't matter if it's on a screen or on a page or tattooed on someone's butt. That's all I'm saying. Getting all gooshy about the paper it's written on, that's stupid."

Maybe having our own personal shepherd on board is changing us, thought Kaylee as she rewrapped the fruit leather and rolled it into a pocket. That's as close to philosophical as she'd ever heard Jayne. 

River was in Cargo 2 with Mal, and the grandly named storage closet really wasn't big enough for all three of them plus the boxes that were in there, especially with Mal glaring at each of them in turn. Kaylee patted River on the arm as she went by, but River was too intent on watching something Kaylee couldn't see. Kaylee's Ma used to say cats and babies could see fairies; maybe River somehow qualified. Or maybe Simon was trying something new. Either way's no never mind, she thought as she wrenched the local climate control panel off for the third time since their last planetfall.

Mal had left off glaring at her and was randomly toeing boxes. "Why's the doctor keeping supplies outside of sick bay?"

"Because it's stuff he don't need and Zoe said to sell 'em. I wanted to keep the outer seals intact and no one ever comes in here."

Mal just grunted in response. She couldn't get the second set of relays free; they were frozen to the case and the rime was scratching her hands. Fingernails weren't enough and besides her nails were turning blue.

"Why's Jayne's second-best ammo bag underfoot?" 

Kaylee gave up on the relays. "I have no idea. But you aren't helping me, so either come over here and use some of that hot air on this or go away." She panted, knowing that in a few minutes she'd apologize for mouthing off, but right now her hands hurt, her feet were cold, and this was the third time she'd fixed the bei shei climate control in a storage closet.

Mal blinked and nodded. She shivered violently and grabbed a thin file, placing her hand over the panel to warm the relays enough to pry the damn things loose. 

"I'll just let you at it, then." He hefted Jayne's bag over his shoulder, skirting River who was now watching him with the same eerie intensity.

When the hatch slid behind him, her hands stopped hurting. In fact, the entire room warmed up so fast she could feel the temperature change, like a breeze that didn't move. The relays slid into her hand and she sank to her haunches, thumping her head back twice softly against the wall. "It don't make sense. It's supposed to make sense," she said to River. River just smiled and opened the hatch. 

She took her time packing away the files, but wound up running into Mal and Jayne on the way back to engineering. Funny how River and Book could sneak right up on you, but Jayne you could hear from a deck away. The captain could be quiet enough when he wanted, but he clearly wasn't wanting to right now.

"I do not want little sister playing with your toys."

"Shit, Captain, it's not dangerous. It's just a book."

"The idea of you with a book is dangerous, Jayne."

"It's not mine, I stole it for the Shepherd. He was looking at it but …"

"'Cause the idea of actually buying it didn't cross your mind?" 

"Weren't for sale." Jayne shrugged, "so now I've got it, and I can't just give it to him…"

Mal rubbed the bridge of his nose. Kaylee figured he couldn't really fault Jayne for doing on his own time what he was told to do on a regular basis. "As mightily cheered as I am by the thought of you owning a book and even more the thought of you getting presents for another man…" Jayne glared, but Mal waved him down with a casual shrug, "I suggest you hide it somewhere else. Or give it to him. Cargo 2 has some kind of temp leak. Dunno how paper handles freezing, but I'll lay money it don't like vacuum much."

That stopped her in her tracks. "There is no pressure leak in that area," she said slowly, deliberately, and clearly. "My ship is whole and we are safe. Which we wouldn't be if there was a vacuum leak. Which there ain't." Both of them stood in what they probably didn't realize were identical stances, arms crossed, weight over one hip. And Kaylee didn't trust herself not to poke one or the other in the chest, the way her gramma used to do her when she was being stubborn, so she shoved past them both and stalked back to engineering.

She threw herself into an overhaul of the secondary shielding system to have something to beat her frustration out on. River wandered in, but seemed content to watch, silently, and hand her tools at random. Zoe's voice cracked from the comm, and she shoved out from under the casing to key back. "I couldn't understand that, what?"

"Simon's looking for River."

"She's here with me." Kaylee flashed a smile over her shoulder and River grinned back, waving a wire set casing. 

"You got her calmed down?"

"Uh, she's fine. When was she not fine? She was okay earlier in Cargo 2."

"She was crying and screaming outside Jayne's..waitaminute…how long has she been with you?"

"Twenty, maybe twenty five minutes. Why?" 

"'Cause Jayne's just pissed me off."

"Yes, ma'am," Kaylee replied to the dead comm, then she turned to River. "So long as nobody's messing with the temperature controls, I officially don't care, right?" River nodded cheerfully as Kaylee slid back under the console.

The next day, the impossible requests kept coming in. First Zoe had her crawling around like some kind of over grown field mouse scurrying through the ventilation tubing because Jayne was hearing things, then the shepherd got alternately scalded and frozen trying to wash. Mid afternoon, Book was trying to launch a mail package and the airlock went nuts, first not responding at all, then opening in series, venting the hold's air pressure and giving Kaylee an honest scare. At least the temperature control in Cargo 2 was finally behaving itself.

Kaylee's stomach growled again and she glanced up at the chronometer. If she hurried, she could actually eat dinner, and not just scarf down leftovers or a hastily piled up sandwich later. If she ran, she'd even have time to wash her hands. She took the halls at an easy lope, sliding to a perfect stop, centered in the door of the mess.

"Don't look at me, Captain, you lost me at 'so Jayne steals this book'." Zoe was saying as Kaylee settled in and pulled the stew pot closer. 

"Don't see why everyone thinks this is so funny."

Wash handed her the basket of rolls and asked, "You stole a Bible, Jayne. Hey, Book, is there a special Hell for Bible thieves or do they just go to the regular one?" 

The shepherd just chuckled and disregarded the question. "It wasn't technically a Bible, Wash, just the log of the unit's chaplain. It'll be safely back at the museum by tomorrow. They were happy to hear it had been found by someone able to return it. Quite honestly, they were a bit surprised it was taken in the first place. Local legend says that most of the artifacts there are haunted by the men who died over them, either in the first wave of attacks or in the plague that followed after."

"Haunted? Ha, the only ghosts on this ship are," Wash trailed off as Zoe's hands came down hard on his shoulders, "yeah well." He patted her hand. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

"Damn straight." Mal stared into his stew. "Man dies, he's dead. So be it."


End file.
